With the iPad’s 9.5-inch screen, who needs an iPhone?
Indeed, after six months of using a tablet, I’m ready to ditch my smartphone for something simpler and more reliable.
The phone I want is a feature phone with a 3G connection and the ability to create a Wi-Fi hotspot for tethering my devices to it.
It should have long battery life, be able to grab and hold on to a voice signal with the tenacity of a bear trap, and be compact yet ruggedly durable.
It could even have an E Ink screen for super-low battery consumption. Who cares if the screen is low resolution and has a 1-second refresh rate, if all you’re using it for is looking at the occasional text message? (Thanks for the suggestion, Tim!)
The result would be a device I could use for phone conversations and basic texting. Mostly, though, it would supply internet connectivity to my other gadgets. I’d use an iPad or my laptop for e-mail, reading articles on the web, composing blog posts, Twitter and, in short, everything else.
Basically I want something like the Nokia 3595 I used for years, before getting a first-gen iPhone, except with the addition of 3G data and Wi-Fi tethering.
After six months of semi-regularly using Apple’s tablet, I’m growing increasingly disenchanted with even the iPhone 4’s high-resolution “retina” display. The thing is just too small to use comfortably.
The more I read on my iPhone, the more sad and tired I get. Bending my neck to stare at a tiny, smaller-than-index-card-sized glowing screen a foot or so in front of my face makes me feel as if my world has shrunk to the size of a playing card.
With the iPad, by contrast, I feel like I’m reading a book. It’s too heavy to hold comfortably for extended periods, but I can prop it up in comfortable positions or slouch with it on my lap. I feel more a part of the world.
The iPhone has other problems, too. Don’t get me started on how often AT&T drops my calls or fails to give me a signal at all.
(And I refuse to get a 3G iPad, or pay extra for its month-to-month data service, no matter how good both are. I’m already paying for 3G data with my phone’s plan — why do I need to buy a second data plan?)
I’ve jailbroken the iPhone and am using the amazing app MyWi to give it Wi-Fi tethering capabilities, so whenever I have a signal, it can feed it to my iPad or laptop. That’s a step in the right direction.
I tried the same thing with a Nexus One a while back, and that worked, too.
Unfortunately, the Nexus One and the iPhone, like all smartphones, are still too big and fragile. I don’t know of any feature phones that offer 3G and tethering.
Now if only I had something durable and compact, with long battery life, that did the same thing.
Is my ideal phone out there? Let me know if I’m overlooking something obvious. I’d love to be proven wrong on this one.
UPDATE 11/9/2010: Several commenters, including limimi and GensanBoy, have pointed me to JoikuSpot, a Symbian app that provides Wi-Fi tethering. Versions are available for Symbian Series 60, which means a cheap S60 phone like the Nokia 5730 or Nokia 5320 would work for this.
Others, including diamondgar and Wired’s John C. Abell, have suggested a different route: Get a 3G iPad with a data plan, plus an ordinary, cheap, prepaid phone with no data plan at all. That solution might be ideal for someone willing to commit to an iPad for all wireless data needs.
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Photo: Jonathan Snyder / Wired.com
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We’ve been getting a few tips this week — and seeing a few things on Twitter — saying that N8s are failing in noticeable quantities, but we wanted to hold off until we’d figured out what was really going on. Well, Nokia’s own Niklas Savander is commenting on the situation now — so we’d say it’s definitely real — though he’s insisting the number of affected units is “very small” and that the company’s normal warranty rules apply, so owners of dead units should contact their local support number. That’s all well and good, but getting service on a paperweight is still a bummer, especially when said phone is your primary means of communication — so let’s hope these guys turn around serviced devices in a hurry.
